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Global warming outpacing the efforts to slow it

Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2018 by Julian Swanson

Global warming outpacing the efforts to slow it

The 2018 Emissions Gap Report is the flagship annual report from the UN Environment Program and acts as a report card on how countries are doing on their individual contributions to the Paris Climate Agreement; it also helps determine the gap between those expected contributions and what will be necessary to stay within the range of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial temperatures (before burning fossil fuels for industrial needs led to major increases in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere). "Germany and Europe could show leadership, by writing the full greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050, and a significant strengthening of the emission reduction targets for 2030".

Speaking about the report, Jian Liu, UNEP's Chief Scientist, said that 51 carbon pricing initiatives are in place or scheduled, covering around 15% of global emissions, and that if all fossil fuel subsidies were phased out, emissions could be reduced by up to 10% by 2030.

The UNEP report finds that, with global emissions still rising as of previous year, it is unlikely they will reach a peak by 2020.

While more homes will be insulated and transport will be modernised, the key plank of any successful strategy will be to reduce fossil fuel use in energy production by 80 percent by 2050, Canete said. In accelerating low-carbon innovation, the report mentions risk acceptance commercial scalability, holistic economic alignment, mission-oriented approaches and a long term-horizon to increase financial uptake.

Humanity is falling further behind in the race against climate change.

The 24 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) is going to kick off next week in Katowice, Poland but the USA stance together with the latest draft communique from G20 is not promising and may weaken the fate of the Paris Agreement.

There was some hint of the possibility of a weakening of the G20's stance on climate change earlier this month, when Argentina's G20 sherpa (emissary) Pedro Villagra Delgado spoke to the media, saying that the drafting of this communique, and the section referencing the Paris Climate Agreement, was proving to be the "most complicated" aspect.

The U.S. report connects climate change to increasing water scarcity and drought, worsening storms, deadly wildfires and greater exposure to tropical diseases across the United States.

According to the report, current emission targets would result in an average global temperature rise of 3.2 degrees Celsius.

'If the IPCC report represented a global fire alarm, this report is the arson investigation, ' UNEP deputy executive director Joyce Msuya said in a statement.

The annual report examines the emissions "gap" - the difference between where the world is likely to be in terms of cutting pollution in 2030 and where it needs to be to prevent temperatures climbing to risky levels.

"And I would add land at this point; reforesting and deforesting - we're planting a lot but we're clearing a lot more, and that's third-world stuff".

The authors of the report note that nations would need to triple their efforts on climate action without further delay, in order to meet the 2°C-rise limit by mid-century.

"Yet government's current emissions pledges put us on track for a truly terrifying 3 degrees of warming".

The report offers concrete ways for Governments to bridge their emissions gap, including through fiscal policy, innovative technology, non-state and subnational action, and more. "Of course, we want the Paris Agreement to be mentioned, but we want it to be mentioned, encompassing everyone, albeit in an ambiguous way", he said.

A Huge Earthquake Hit Alaska And The Pictures Are Truly Horrifying
The warning was in place for 90 minutes before it was cancelled. "It was anarchy", said one local man to AP of the quake. Southern Alaska has a high risk of earthquakes because of tectonic plates sliding past each other under the region.Saturday, December 01, 2018